The Force Awakens: Official Review Thread - ** SPOILERS ** — Page 7

TheWanderingNomad said:

ZkinandBonez said:

TheWanderingNomad said:

SilverWook said:

TheWanderingNomad said:

The Resistance base looked far too much like a set than a real world location, especially compared to Hoth or Yavin.

You do know they used a real RAF military base for that, right?

Yes. & it doesn’t alter the fact it looked like a set. When I say ‘real world’ I mean within the context of the Star Wars universe. It was one step up from Dr Who using English quarries for alien planets in the 70s. The rather pedestrian way those scenes were shot didn’t help either.

Well, a lot of studio lots used to be aircraft hangars, so that does kind of makes sense. And a lot of studio lots are built on the same principle. But I think it would be more correct to say that sets look like hangars, rather than saying that the hangars look like sets.

I didn’t say that: those are your words. Compare Hoth and Yavin, they had a much different sense of scale and other-worldliness. I think the Resistance base could have done with some matt paintings or enhancement of the landscape.

Visually, it wasn’t very interesting. &, as I said, I think that’s partly how it’s shot. It had a very TV movie/series aesthetic.

I thought the base looked like it would be pretty great in the drone/helicopter shots people took during filming. I feel like we didn’t get enough wide or overhead shots (enhanced, as needed) to really show it off in the film.

I have to say overall the film was a mixed bag.

Kylo Ren was somewhat interesting, even if he was basically just a knock off of Vader. It was a good idea to write a disgruntled Jedi trainee into the plot and make him Han and Leia’s son.

Rey was a refreshingly strong and believable female character, and I thought Daisy Ridley’s performance was quite good. I did find it dubious though that she (and Finn), with no previous Jedi training, would be able to engage in a lightsabre fight with a Sith apprentice and last more than a few seconds.

I really did not like Finn. First, I still find it improbable that there would be a black stormtrooper. In the original trilogy, all of the Imperials were white human males. If the First Order is modeling themselves on the fascist Empire, I wouldn’t expect any females, blacks, or alien races in its military.

Aside from that, Finn was just an annoying character, almost like a C-3P0 or Jar Jar. Han was visibly annoyed by his presence throughout most of film. Also, John Boyega’s American accent was rather awkward. He should have spoken with his native British accent.

I think Han’s death was gratuitous. Because he died, we didn’t get to see Luke, Han, and Leia reunited. I think Ford must of put a lot of pressure on Abrams to kill off Han for him agreeing to play the character again, because it’s what he always wanted. Ford never liked Han, even though the role is what made him rich and famous.

I agree with those who say that Abrams went to the other extreme by not including much politics in the film. The origins of the First Order are vague, as are the events of the entire 30 years between ROTJ and TFA. This is where the film failed most. Many of us wanted to know more of the history of the new republic and the fate of the heroes of the original trilogy after the defeat of the Empire.

I went to the theater not expecting much when I saw the film, therefore really I wasn’t disappointed. I still don’t think much of JJ Abrams or his directing or script writing skills. There really is great room for improvement in subsequent films.

Admiral Motti said:

I really did not like Finn. First, I still find it improbable that there would be a black stormtrooper. In the original trilogy, all of the Imperials were white human males.

This is not the forum you are looking for. waves hand

Pretty much in agreement here on a lot of what has been said.

I give it a 6.5

Many things I liked many things I disliked.

Plot was poorly handled, needed about another 30 minutes to allow the time to settle in. Hopefully an extended version will be made. Phasma obviously had a scene cut at the end I reckon there is more.

It felt a bit like a microwave dinner in terms of character development apart from Rey

Gollum should not have been in it.

Carrie fisher face hardly moved… Don’t know if she has a medical condition but either excessive plastic surgery or Botox sprang to mind.

Harrison ford was the pillar of strenth to the film but Daisy Ridley did ok not an outstanding performance.

I did enjoy it but man so gutted the music was not with this film, it hard a big part to play in it not reaching a much better feeling to it. The music was non existant and this is the most major downfall and serious lesson to be learnt.

One thing I still am not to fond of is the pull out of light speed behind their shields in order to bypass them… not only did it feel incredibly rushed but it seems like the Star Wars equivalent of Treknobabble, and if it was that easy why bother disabling the shields at all? Couldn’t the X-Wing squadron have just done the same thing to lead into their attack?

Well the whole briefing scene about attacking Starkiller base became a silly Parody, and then when they got there and relied on Finn just saying yeah I can take out the shield he had no clue how to do it, yet they still managed to do it. This was really lame and stupid and was a bit insulting.

That and the Squid creatures on Han’s Junk were the most painful I think in the film. And not to mention the guys from the Raid / Raid 2 what was the point in having incredibly talented martial artists that do no martial arts and shoot guns?

Anyway offset this I think the first 30 minutes were actually the best part, it started well but I think it lost it’s way by the end.

SpilkaBilka said:

hydrospanner said:

One thing I still am not to fond of is the pull out of light speed behind their shields in order to bypass them… not only did it feel incredibly rushed but it seems like the Star Wars equivalent of Treknobabble, and if it was that easy why bother disabling the shields at all? Couldn’t the X-Wing squadron have just done the same thing to lead into their attack?

Yeah, I really didn’t like that aspect either.

I also hated that they kept saying the word “oscillator”- it just sounds like a word out of scifi, which does not fit in the SW universe (for me, anyway).

I know this is very nitpicky, but: I don’t think it was ever explicitly addressed in the OT, but I always assumed that when a ship was in hyperspace, it wouldn’t be possible for it to communicate with the outside world. Whether the ship is going FTL, or whether it’s in some kind of “hyperspace dimension” or whatever, I never thought they’d be able to radio other people. I think there’s a scene in TFA where the Falcon communicates with the Rebel base while in hyperspace, right?

I don’t remember that, but they did communicate with the X-Wings that were traveling in hyperspace to inform them the shields were down.

Ronster said:

Plot was poorly handled, needed about another 30 minutes to allow the time to settle in. Hopefully an extended version will be made.

I disagree. The problem was it had too much plot.

I think it would have benefitted from cutting the smugglers’ freighter story, maybe even Maz’s castle, and developing everything else more. It rushed from one set piece to another.

Given the lack of tension involved in the destruction of the Starkiller base, it didn’t even need a superweapon element to the story. I would have preferred a different threat – for example, the First Order as intergalactic terrorists or carrying out stealth strikes in the heart of the republic – rather than them having such a powerful – but ultimately weak – weapon from the get go. Something that would have given more scope to better establish the characters of the lead villains. Instead they came across as a bunch of amateurs.

Just compare the Rebel attack on the Death Star in the original film to TFA. In Star Wars it very much came across as a real military battle, albeit on a small scale. This film had nothing like that, it was just yippee pew-pew we did it. No tension. Nothing.

This film is about the quality that I would have expected out of some spin-off like Rogue 1. Not the main story.

I think it was actually intended to be more of a parallel to ROTJ where we where the main plot focus was on the fate of the characters battling it out in the throne room, with the space battle being the secondary plot line.

Just came back from the theater.

It was okay. Certainly not as good as the OT, but good enough for a sequel set so long after them. The film moved like one of the originals. A roller coaster ride of barely squeezing out of danger. Harrison Ford was good again as Han. I was a bit worried given that he just did not seem to care for acting over the past several years. The new cast was pretty good. Rey and Finn were acceptable as new heroes.

I do have my gripes. It is as if Return of the Jedi never happened as I’ve stated about my fears here before. Somehow the Empire/First Order is an actual credible threat and the Republic is so weak they just have a tiny “Resistance” force. The movie also rehashes the Death Star for the third time. Luke showing up for the last minute of the movie and not speaking did nothing for me, either.

I know Carrie Fisher in real life has her problems, but they’re unfortunately very visible in this movie. Her looks and voice changed so much its jarring coming from the original movies to this one.

What was with the advertising playing up the role of Captain Phasma? She did nothing. I suppose she is just like Boba Fett in RotJ. She said and did very little and had an ignoble end (unless she survived somehow).

Another post I made elsewhere:

One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when Rey was scrubbing some junk on Jakku, and she’s sitting across from this very old woman with tons of wrinkles all over her face. In contrast, Rey looks so fresh, young, and beautiful. But they are both doing the same job, and it might just cause the girl to ponder her future stuck on that planet doing the same thing for the rest of her life. Even better, someone jars her back to reality and I just loved the shot of her for the last two or three seconds of that scene. Putting her head down and scrubbing away, kind of an awkward looking facial expression. No pretentiousness whatsoever. Little things like that combined with the awesome Falcon pursuit off Jakku are what make a movie like this good.

In contrast, many other parts of the film were waaaaaay too self conscious. Poe Dameron flies his X-wing around the ruins of Maz’s castle, blows something up, and Finn looks up, and out of all the carnage going on around him and above him in the air, he happens to see it and exclaim “that’s one awesome pilot!” just because the two of them happened to have a couple of scenes together earlier in the movie. Even though he could never have possibly known who was in the X-wing.

I mean I guess they are supposed to be comrades, but instead of having them hang out during the entire movie and accomplish stuff together, we’ll just have one of them sit out 90% and then insert juvenile moments like this to try and convince you they are new best friends forever. **** off.

Like I said the movie is fun if you don’t take it seriously, but it’s not really a high quality Star Wars. Just too much bull**** it in for me.

Silver, I think there’s a lot of prequel-type apologia going on with this movie right now. Once again I don’t mean that as a put down or attack, I just think some of you are wanting to make more out of this movie than it is, tirelessly attempting to explain away such clear and obvious flaws. YMMV though.

Anchorhead said:

This is not the forum you are looking for. waves hand

I agree.

This also needs to be the end of that tangent to the reviews.

+1